1. Technical Field
This invention relates to patty making machines and more particularly to the feed mechanism for a patty making machine.
2. Background Art
Food patty molding machines using augers to feed the food product into the molding mechanism are known in the art. Two such machines are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,054,967 and 4,106,160, in which the augers rotate to drive the product into the molding mechanism. However, the twisting action of the auger causes the product to be undesirably overworked before it is molded into a patty. Further, these machines often encounter "bridging" wherein the product at the bottom of the hopper bridges over the auger without being caught by the auger for feeding into the molding mechanism. As a result, the product is not automatically used up by the feed mechanism and must be worked free by the operator.
Still another feed mechanism known in the prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,299,314 which has a vertical auger in a rotating hopper. The twisting action of this mechanism overworks the product similar to the above-described machines, and the feed rate of this machine is somewhat difficult to control.
The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.